SOUND BITESMarilyn Manson could endanger his demonic reputation with antics like this one: comforting the mother of a teenager who was driven to suicide by school bullies tormenting her over her Goth lifestyle. Performing in Glasgow last weekend, Manson dedicated the song ”Fight On” to Nicola Raphael, 15, who overdosed on painkillers two months ago and was buried along with her ticket to the Manson show. After the concert, Manson met with the girl’s mother. ”He was very caring and considerate,” Rona Raphael told Scotland’s Daily Record newspaper. ”I was so touched that this megastar took time out to meet me. Despite all the controversy about him and his shows, he just seemed like a normal man to me.”…

The times may be a-changin’, but 60-year-old Bob Dylan has a handle on this newfangled Internet thing. At BobDylan.com, he’s offering free downloads of his new song ”Po’ Boy,” from upcoming album ”Love and Theft,” which hits stores September 11.

He’s also one of the increasing number of artists using the Web to pre-sell concert tickets to the faithful. A handful of priority tickets for most of the shows on his upcoming arena tour will be made available online starting Wednesday at 10 a.m. in each venue’s time zone. Cryptic as ever, Dylan is offering the priority tickets only to fans who visit the website tomorrow, where he will reveal the password and hyperlink….

Hard rockers Alien Ant Farm are miffed that they weren’t invited to participate in Michael Jackson‘s all-star concert tribute to himself next month. After all, the quartet’s unexpectedly reverent cover of Jackson’s ”Smooth Criminal” is a big hit right now. When AAF frontman Dryden Mitchell read the roster of performers and presenters, which includes virtually every screen and song star under the age of 97, ”it brought a little tear to my eye,” he tells USA Today. ”I felt like we should be playing there as well. It was kind of a bummer.”